Ok, so you're going on your European vacation armed with your digital camera. Everyone wants to hear from you. Your mom wants to keep track of your progress. What do you do? Sit in a cybercafe and write zillions of individual emails to folks in your address book? Sit in a real cafe and write post cards? Meanwhile you've got that camera with its memory full of your memories...
What if you had a website that would handle a bulk of these tasks automatically? Just write what you've done that day, pop a virtual pin on an online map to show folks where you are, upload the applicable pictures, and you're set--the pictures and accounts of your travels are recorded and notice is sent to everyone in your address book so your friends can see where you are and what you're doing. And your pictures are stored at full resolution so you can use that memory card again.
And when you return from your trip, you get an HTML archive of the site you've created, burned on a CDROM.
What I'm describing here is the Premium Personal Website available on MyTripJournal. You can purchase a "temporary" blog or web log that exists for only as long as you want it to (60 days, 6 months, or a year) and the package comes with storage space for your pictures. Even after you've signed up, you can extend the time your site is active if you wish.
MyTripJournal's Standard Personal Website does not allow your photos to be saved at their full resolution, and you don't get the archive CDROM, but it's slightly cheaper.
Alternatives? Well, you could buy hosting and set up your own blog software--but you'll pay and when your vacation's over you'll still have a site, which, if you don't update will become increasingly stale until it turns into another pool of web detritus.
Then there's the free weblogs. But most don't allow you to post images. Great if you're good at describing things. But your mom and dad will want the pictures. They all do. And they better be in color.
Weblog Resources
Travel Blogs about Europe
Index of Selected European Travel Blogs
